Muggers target expats as victims

"Sohel Bhai, accept my salaam. Hope you are well. Have sent you a letter. Your passport and ticket are in my possession. Contact me if you need them... Didar Bhai," reads a letter sent by a gang of muggers to Sohel, who hails from Ujirpur in Barisal.
Sohel, who is an expatriate living in Dubai, returned home two months ago and was taking preparation to go back to his workplace. But a gang of muggers took away his passport and air ticket at gunpoint when he was crossing the Notre Dame College area after having his ticket confirmed at an airlines office at Motijheel in Dhaka on March 31.
The registered letter was sent to Sohel's village home from a fake address in Mirpur. The gang also gave a cellphone number in the letter.
When Sohel called at the phone number, the muggers demanded Tk 40,000 in exchange for his passport and air ticket.
"After I came to Dhaka two days ago, the muggers asked me to come to Naya Paltan today (Tuesday). Accordingly, when I reached near the BNP office in the afternoon, a member of the gang came over to me and asked me to follow him," Sohel said.
Some time later, the mugger returned the passport and the ticket to Sohel and asked for the money.
But Sohel grabbed the mugger and raised an alarm, prompting passers-by to come to the rescue of Sohel and caught hold of the mugger and beat him up.
Later, the mugger who identified himself as Ahsanul Huq Babu of Gabtoli was handed over to the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab-3).
Babu told this correspondent that he was not a mugger, but the gang hired him to receive the money from Sohel. He also said that he would get Tk 2,000 for this job.
Rab-3 Commanding Officer Lt Col Mamun Mahmud Firoj Chowdhury told The Daily Star, "There are several gangs in the city who target the expatriates and others who are trying to go abroad."
The gangs collect information from airlines offices and the recruiting agencies, he added.